Technical assistance and direction for RWJF's Project HealthDesign program

The Foundation's program, Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records, was designed to expand a vision of personal health records and encourage the market to develop products that meet the diverse needs of patients. Many observers see personal health records (PHRs) as a potentially "disruptive innovation" that will help consumers gain more control of their health. Today, most PHRs are essentially electronic copies of patient medical records that patients can view online. However, for PHRs to be most effective, they must reflect the needs of the patients who will use them and they must be able to support a wide range of add-on functions and services. This grant provides technical assistance and direction support for Project HealthDesign grantees to: (1) develop patient-centered designs for PHR systems; and (2) develop prototypes of these systems.